by Caroline Lee
As she hurried towards the back room, she heard Violet speak up.
“Come on, Daddy, color with us! Miss Sadie draws pretty good animals, but I’m better at flowers she says.”
Shawn murmured something low enough that Sadie couldn’t hear, but then she was safely in the back room with her back pressed against the door, and her chest heaving with the force of the breaths she was taking.
What was it about Shawn McAllister that made her want to gain his approval so badly? Why was she acting like a ninny around him? Julia kept sending her knowing grins, and Sadie couldn’t help returning them. Ugh.
She pushed away from the door and dropped the dirty dishes in the industrial washer. When she’d taken the traditional first-taste over to Jaclyn that afternoon, she’d been thrilled to meet Violet. Especially after all the neat stuff Shawn had told her about his daughter. It had just seemed natural to bring the little girl back to the shop, to taste some ice cream and hang out. Julia had even agreed to stay an extra hour, so Sadie could color and chat before the after-dinner rush started.
Why had her hanging out with Violet upset Shawn so much?
She sighed, and went into the walk-in freezer. Well, she didn’t know why he was angry, but she knew no one could stay mad long around her ice cream. Today’s batch was a new recipe she’d finally perfected; a peanut butter chocolate, complete with crunchy bits and brownie chunks. Yeah, that would make anyone happy again.
She was backing out of the freezer, the big tub in her arms, when she ran into something large and hard and oh-so-warm.
Even before she whirled around, she knew who it was. Shawn had followed her.
His arms came around her shoulders, to steady her, and Sadie tried not to moan aloud at how good it felt, to have him touching her so naturally. That same electric spark traveled across her skin, but this time, he took his time releasing her, and that made her feel…safe. Warm. Protected.
Stop it, silly. He was just being polite, saving you from making a fool of yourself.
“What are you doing here?” She couldn’t help the way her voice squeaked slightly, when she finally forced herself to step out of his arms.
“Following you.”
She watched him run his fingers through his hair, and her own tightened around the too-cold tub, to keep from doing the same.
“I came to apologize.”
“For what?” she asked as she pushed past him to the counter, and pulled down three bowls and a big spoon.
“For the way I acted. I’m sorry. It makes me uncomfortable to think of people manipulating my daughter. I’m not used to…”
Sadie began to scoop out new ice cream for the three of them, but her attention was entirely on his words behind her.
He took a deep breath. “…to Violet getting so much attention from…strangers.”
Her heart lurched and her arm froze, mid-scoop. “I didn’t realize I was a stranger.”
A heartbeat, and then he said quietly, “I’m sorry. You’re not.”
And she loosened up enough to finish the more-than-generous helping she was spooning into his bowl. “Good. Because I like you. And I like Violet. I think…” She finished serving a smaller amount for her and the little girl, and dropped the spoon into the washer. “I think we’re friends.”
When she turned and propped her hip against the counter, she met Shawn’s eyes. They were hooded, but as she watched, his jaw muscles unclenched and he exhaled.
“I think…that we could all be friends, yeah.”
Friends. If that’s what Shawn McAllister was willing to be to her, that was good enough. She’d take it happily and enjoy any time they had together.
“Well then,” she forced a bright tone, “since we’re friends, you can help me test this batch.” Sadie shoved the huge bowl of ice cream into his hands without waiting for an agreement. Picking up the tub once more, she nodded towards a rack. “Grab three spoons for me, would you?”
She hurried to put the ice cream in the freezer and came back to find him holding his bowl and three spoons, and looking not a little uncomfortable. “Sadie, are these for us?”
“Yep!” While chatting innocently, Violet had said something that had confirmed Sadie’s suspicions about money being tight for the pair. Apparently they both had PB&J sandwiches for lunch each day, and hot dogs most evenings. It was filling, cheap food, but sounded terribly boring to Sadie.
So she smiled when she reached around him to pick up the other two bowls. “I know it’s horrible, but I’ve probably already ruined Violet’s appetite for dinner. So you might as well just accept that you two—and me—are eating ice cream for dinner.”
“But I really can’t afford—”
She couldn’t bear to hear him say it, so she cut him off with a little hip-bump that had his teeth snapping shut on whatever excuse he’d been about to make. She grinned playfully. “We’re friends, Shawn. Friends hang out and share stuff. Now, come out and eat some ice cream—ice cream for dinner! What would our mothers say?—and color something stupid.”
He followed behind her. “Color? You want me to color?”
“With scented glitter markers,” she called over her shoulder as they made their way across her coffee shop.
He was chuckling when they reached the table where Violet had laid out three new sheets of paper. She bounced excitedly when Sadie laid the second—smaller—bowl of ice cream in front of her and immediately dug in. But it wasn’t until the adults had sat down, and Shawn took a big bite, that Sadie relaxed slightly.
He made a sort of humming noise, deep in his throat, and those green eyes found hers. “Did I ever mention,” he asked, after he swallowed, “that peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite flavor combination?”
There was something almost sensual about enjoying a good bowl of ice cream—at least, that’s what Sadie had always thought. And the look in Shawn’s eyes seemed to confirm it. She swallowed and smiled weakly. “That’s why we’re friends, I guess.”
“I guess.”
A few more bites, and then they both picked up markers and started doodling. Shawn’s designs were angular and artistic, while Sadie and Violet stuck with the flowers and bunnies and Jaclyn’s gnomes they’d been drawing earlier. But the three of them teased each other about their artwork in between bites of ice cream, and it was…
It was nice. Very nice.
She liked Violet for the little girl’s enthusiasm, creativity, and sincerity, and because she reminded Sadie so much of herself as a little girl. But Shawn… She liked Shawn a lot more than she should, for someone who only thought of her as a friend. Someone who made her heart speed up anytime he looked at her. Someone who made her skin tingle when they brushed against one another. Someone who kept her up late at night in her lonely apartment, thinking about how good his arms would feel around her.
Still, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d dealt with an unrequited crush on a really hot guy who thought of her as “just a friend,” so she knew how to handle it. She’d just tamp down those squiggly feelings she got whenever she was around him, and learn to enjoy his company for what it was: friendship.
Because being friends with Shawn McAllister was better than nothing.
CHAPTER FOUR
Thursday afternoon Shawn didn’t go into the coffee shop because he met with Jace in Wade Weston’s big office instead. The other man had recently been hired to be the ranch accountant, and it had been his—and his new wife’s—idea to restart the summer programs. Apparently Jace had attended the camps when he was a teen, and knew how much good they could provide underprivileged kids.
Shawn agreed, which was one of the reasons he was working so hard to make them a success.
The two men spent an hour poring over the plans Shawn had made already and discussed staffing options. Jace agreed with many of the suggestions Shawn proposed and made a few of his own. As an accountant, Jace was pleased to hear Shawn was pursuing the Chamber of Commerce’s ten-thousand-dollar “Spirit o
f Riston” award. However, he was less thrilled about the other prize.
Apparently a wealthy citizen had passed away this year, and left the town a small antique wooden carousel. It was extremely rare, but completely functional. The C-of-C had decided to award a ten-year lease of the carousel to the winner of this year’s Spirit of Riston contest.
The two men brainstormed together on possible benefits to having a carousel as part of the camps, and eventually decided that while it would be good to have it for publicity with the kids, it would probably involve having to build a structure for it, which would make it a financial drain on the ranch. By the end of the meeting, the best Shawn could suggest was to refuse that part of the prize and to hope that the Chamber of Commerce agreed to let the camp program keep the cash prize instead.
He’d said his goodbyes to Jace and waved to Wade’s assistant Bernie, and gone directly from the admin offices in the Main House to the ranch’s front entrance. He was still a little early for Violet’s bus, but the sun was shining, and it wasn’t too cold, and he enjoyed the chance to just stand quietly and clear his mind. It reminded him of the hours spent at parade rest, or of waiting in between patrols. Not that those were happy memories, but the army had taught him many lessons, among them the ability to clear his mind when needed.
Absently, he nodded to the cars and trucks pulling in and out of the ranch and wondered if they were regulars or tourists. It wasn’t until one of the trucks turning into the ranch pulled over with a crunch of gravel—stopping right in front of the big “River’s End Ranch” sign—that Shawn blinked and shifted, coming back to reality.
Only, maybe he shouldn’t have.
The person getting out of the truck—waving to him and smiling—was Sadie Mayfield, the very person he’d been avoiding thinking too much about. Mainly because whenever he did think about her too much, he got all sorts of turned on. And it was obvious, from the way she’d treated him at the coffee shop the other day, she only thought of him as a friend.
And friends didn’t get turned on by each other, did they?
But he had to admit it was kind of nice to have her as a friend. She was cheerful, and fun to be around, and had a really relaxed way of making him feel at ease. But still..he swallowed carefully as she jogged across the street towards him. Because friend or not, he couldn’t help but admire how smokin’ hot she was.
Sadie was on the short side, but he wasn’t really tall either, so that was okay. Her thick brown hair was usually pulled up in a high ponytail, but today it fell loose around her shoulders and his palms itched inside his gloves to touch it, to see if it was silky smooth as it looked. The fresh air made her chocolate-brown eyes sparkle, and there was enough color on her cheeks that he couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed, excited to be out in the sun, or wearing makeup.
And her curves… Man, oh man. They’d been the first thing he’d noticed about her, all those weeks ago, as she ran around her shop in all black and that apron that barely held everything in. She had curves in all the right places, and he definitely didn’t mind looking at her, even when she was bundled up in that caramel-colored pea coat.
He swallowed again. This being “just friends” thing was harder than he’d thought. Harder in all sorts of ways.
“Hiya, Shawn!”
She skidded to a stop beside him, and he found himself smiling in spite of his earlier thoughts. Just being around her made him happy.
“Hi yourself. What are you up to?”
“Julia covers for me once a week—Fridays, usually—when I have to go on a supply run to Post Falls.” She bounced a little in her brown cowboy boots—oh yeah, he’d noticed them while he’d been staring at how good her legs looked in those jeans—as if chilly or excited. “But I’ve been hoping to see you!”
“You have? I mean—” He quickly backtracked, “Me too. Been looking forward to seeing you, I mean.”
“Oh yeah?” Her eyes twinkled when she smiled. “Any particular reason why?”
“Yeah. Um…” Shawn shifted his attention to the other side of the road, wondering if he was blushing. “Violet was after me to… Well, to invite you over for dinner. We—that is, she—thought it would be nice. Since we’re friends, I mean.”
Way to botch up that invite, McAllister.
When she didn’t respond right away, he flicked his gaze back over to her. She was biting her plump lower lip and staring at him. He tried not to cringe. Finally, she took a deep breath.
“That sounds nice, Shawn. Thanks. Are you…um. Are you sure? I mean…”
“You mean, because I live in an RV?” Shoot. That definitely came out more defensive than joking, which is how he’d meant it.
“No. No! I meant, because it’s Violet’s idea. I don’t want you to feel like you need to or anything, just because Violet and I got along pretty well.”
He was reminded about his reaction to finding out Sadie and Violet were hanging out; his fear that another grown woman was manipulating his daughter. That afternoon in her shop though, he’d seen Sadie’s sincere pleasure at spending time with Violet, and had to admit that she was nothing like Tammi; Sadie Mayfield was genuine and open and a good friend to both him and his daughter.
So he took a deep breath, and turned to face her. “It was Violet’s idea, yeah, but it’s a good one. You’ve been really nice to us, and she’s right, friends invite other friends over. So I’ll make some dinner, and we can hang out.” Then a horrible thought occurred to him. “If you want, I mean.” He said hurriedly. “If you don’t want to, or if you’d rather not squeeze into our tiny living space, that’s cool too. I just thought—”
He stopped when she put her gloved hand on his arm. There were at least four layers between them, but he could swear he felt her warmth through his coat…and had to tamp down on his shudder. If it felt this good when she touched his coatsleeve, how good would it feel to hold her?
“Shawn, I would be thrilled to see your home, and I appreciate the invite. I would love to come over and hang out with you—with both of you. Thank you.”
He nodded, stiffly, still a little embarrassed by his stupid invitation. “Tomorrow, we were thinking? Six o’clock? I know that you’ve got a shop to run though, so if there’s another time…”
But she just smiled, and man-oh-man was that a sight to see. He loved the way her cheeks sorta bunched up around her eyes, and made her look so darn kissable. “I’ve gotta check with Julia to see if she’s okay running the place for a few hours. But as long as I don’t stay out past ten, so I can swing back by to shut the place down, she should be alright. I’ll see if Dottie can come in for an extra shift too.”
“So…it’ll work?”
“Totally.” Her smile grew. “I’ll make it work. Thank you for the invite. I’m…I’m flattered. Can I bring anything?”
“No, this is our treat.” He smiled when he said the by-rote words, but inside, his mind what whirring. What did they have on hand that wouldn’t break the bank and still be welcome? “I was thinking…spaghetti? A big pot of comfort food?”
“That sounds awesome! I love pasta.” She patted her stomach through her coat. “As you can tell.”
He didn’t know what he was supposed to make of that comment. Was she insulting herself, or what?
Shawn was saved from trying to figure out if he needed to point out how attractive he found her by the arrival of the school bus. It came lumbering over the hill, and squealed to a stop in front of the ranch, the little stop sign warning the non-existent oncoming traffic that a child would be getting off.
He took a step forward, and grinned as Violet barreled off the bus and into his arms. She enjoyed their walks back to the RV as much as he did, and he’d come to cherish the twice a week he could meet her here.
“How was school, Sprout?” he asked as the bus unlocked its breaks and trundled up the next hill.
“About the same.” Violet shrugged out of her bookbag, and he swung it onto his shoulder in a habit they’d developed
for the days he could walk with her. “Samantha and her mean friends said some stuff, but I sat with Vivian at lunch and we talked about the newest American Girl book, so that was good.”
“Oh yeah? And how about, you know, actual school?” He was proud of the way his daughter was able to see the good in life, rather than dwell on the bullies. Sometimes, despite feeling like a failure of a father, he thought maybe he wasn’t doing too badly of a job.
Violet snorted. “Math wasn’t too hard, and I got a 100 on last week’s spelling test.”
“So pretty good, huh?”
She seemed to suddenly realize they had an audience. “Miss Sadie!”
To Shawn’s surprise, his daughter actually ran to Sadie, who didn’t have to bend down too far to hug her. The two of them even squealed a bit, and he couldn’t believe how happy they were to see one another.
“What are you doing here?” he heard Violet ask Sadie when he made his way over to them.
“I saw your dad waiting and I stopped to hang out. He invited me over to dinner. Said it was your idea, missy.”
Violet beamed. “It was! He told me it was important to be good friends, so I thought that maybe you could come be our friend!”
When Sadie looked up and met his eyes, Shawn forgot to be embarrassed. The way she was looking at him—like he was the best dang thing in the whole world—made him forget just about everything.
“He taught you that? He’s a really good dad, then.” She might’ve been talking to Violet, but she didn’t drop his eyes, and Shawn found himself shifting a little uncomfortably under her approving gaze. “Maintaining friendships is important in life, and I’m glad you’re my friend.” And then she took a deep breath, and Shawn most definitely did not glance down at her chest, although it was hard. “I’m glad you’re both my friends.”
Cool it, McAllister. You’re friends, that’s it.
“Yeah.” He managed to choke out, when his daughter looked at him for agreement. “That’s what friends are for.”